Friday, March 20, 2009

If Descartes Were a Masochist

True story. I staggered into a bar one Sunday at lunch to meet a friend. I was staggering not because I was already drunk, but because I was sore from a 22-mile run I'd done the day before through mountainous terrain.

"You look great," he observed as I stiffly winced my way up onto the bar stool. "Want to go to the museum later?"

"Can't. I'm going for another long run this afternoon."

"Why?" he asked, not unreasonably.

I responded much less jokingly than this statement should be delivered: "To punish my legs for hurting me."

Words to Live By

"...there is good and bad speculation, and this is not an unparalleled activity in science...Those scientists who have no taste for this sort of speculative enterprise will just have to stay in the trenches and do without it, while the rest of us risk embarrassing mistakes and have a lot of fun." - Dan Dennett